Who should get the casino tax?

Casinos are financial godsends for the municipalities. They benefit from two types of levies : a progressive levy of 10% taken by the state and a second levy of 15% on the gross income from gaming after an allowance of 25%. Depending on the municipalities these sums can be colossal as in the case of Enghien which pockets 30 million euros annually.

The Depty of the first Finistere conscription and the President of the law commission, Jean-Jacques Urvoas, believes that the gambling levy should not just go into the municipalities’ funds but rather to the inter- municipalities. This announcement caused quite a stir so the person in question hurried to explain himself. According to him, casino clients are not just local inhabitants but are mostly tourists. This is the reason why the municipalities don’t have the right to get the whole of the cake. Jean-Francois Cot, the President of the French Casino Trade Union, finds this idea quite interesting. According to him it wouldn’t change anything for the casinos since they have to pay anyway. Moreover, it would allow a cap be put on casinos which could considerably damage existing casinos. Casinos aren’t doing too well anyway due to the ban on smoking in public places, the economic crisis and online casino sites and they need to be protected. Nevertheless, he says there is a snag: if the money was given to the inter- municipalities, the casinos could no longer finance certain events as is the case at present.

Christian Pennanech, the mayor of Benodet, thinks that all of this is in reality just a political quarrel from different perspectives. According to what he says, Jean-Jacques Urvoas doesn’t accept that the people of Benodet aren’t voting for him. The mayor explains that the amount of the levy which is 1.2 million euros per year is invested in developing tourism in the municipality. If the municipality no longer received this amount the local economy would be affected.